The Cape Hunting Dog a.k.a the Wild Dog used to occur throughout the Savanna regions of Africa but is now extinct in many parts of its original habitat. Fortunately however a number of these unmistakable carnivores can be found in the more ‘protected areas’ of our National Parks and some privately owned game reserves.

Although similar in size to a domestic Alsatian dog, it is recognisable by its large, rounded ears, long legs and a bushy white tipped tail. The body is blotched with black, white, brown and yellowish-brown hairs. Fully grown adults can reach a shoulder height of between 65-80cm and a body mass of around 20-30kgs.

As one of the rarest large carnivore in the sub-region, it hunts by sight and is usually associated with open veldt type habitat. As a highly specialised and efficient hunter, the Wild Dog hunts in organised packs where team work is the key to success. A pack usually numbering 10-15 animals although smaller and larger packs have been observed.

Hunting is conducted mainly during the cooler morning and late afternoon hours. Prey ranges from scrub hare to buffalo and most members of the pack engage in the hunt. As a pack they move slowly towards its sighted prey, increasing the pace as the quarry starts to move away. Once an individual has been singled out, one or two dogs usually chase the prey while others follow in hot pursuit taking turns in ‘chasing down’ the prey if necessary. A chase can sometimes last for several kilometers before the prey is brought down. Some dogs can reach speeds of up to 50 kph and sustain this speed for quite some distance.

Lacking the strong jaws, teeth and sharp powerful claws needed to catch and hold down the prey, the Wild Dog’s prey on the other hand is bitten and torn apart whilst on the run until it weakens from shock or loss of blood. This usually results in a much quicker death to the prey animal and although often regarded as a very cruel form of death, one should bear in mind that the prey animal is most probably in a state of shock and feels very little pain. Yes, I have had clients commenting to me by saying that a Wild Dog has a reputation as a “wanton killer”. This is not entirely true because we need to remember that the Wild Dog kills only for its immediate needs.

A Wild Dog can yip, twitter, whine and growl and barks when danger such as a Lion is spotted. Did you know that a Wild Dog consumes more food per body mass than a Lion? This basically means that for an animal as active as a Wild Dog it will probably need to hunt and kill every day preferring fresh meat from its own kill and consume an average of about 3kgs of meat daily.

Between 2-10 pups are born in abandoned burrows of other species. Most births take place during the dry, winter months when grass is short and hunting conditions at their best. Unfortunately not all young pups survive in the wild. The high mortality amongst the pups is mainly due to disease and they succumb to the ‘hard life’ of roaming over large areas and being exposed to other predators to which they sometimes fall prey to.

Adults leave the den when the young are about 10-12 weeks old and are followed by the young dogs. In the wild, Wild Dogs can grow as old as 12 years and a little older in captivity.

Fortunately the decline in Wild Dog numbers have been relatively stabilised over the past number of years. This is mainly attributed to the Wild Dog breeding centres which have been established in some parts of the country where conservationists and wildlife scientists are hard at work managing some of the breeding projects. These breeding projects will hopefully increase the Wild Dog numbers so that some of these animals can eventually be relocated to areas where they once occurred naturally.

So, next time you happen to be in that fortunate position to spot a Wild Dog or pack of them either resting or hunting, consider yourself ‘very lucky’. It is worth taking some photographs and showing these to your friends and family back home because they are going to be very jealous of you having experienced such a rare opportunity in Africa.

Compiled by Sukulu Safaris CC information centre